Entries in chapter books
(40)

For a look at what our bookshelves really look like (and to read some thoughts on what we do to foster a love of reading and literacy at home), head over to an interview Tee and Penguin did with me on their blog. Thanks for having me, Sarah and Taryn!

P.S. I’m starting a new series called #whataverysreading. I’ll post a stack of what she’s been reading lately every couple of weeks or so and would love to hear what other chapter books and middle grade books everyone is into these days.

Today we’ve got a rainy and sullen sky out and we’ve been reading Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories. What is everyone’s favorite book by her? I didn’t grow up reading Enid Blyton (only discovered her work when I got older) and am looking to buy more of her stories for Avery and Nate. And happy first day of winter, all.

Sharing Louisa May Alcott’s A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories in honor of her birthday this week. Does anyone else like to watch Little Women around this time of the year? I try to watch it at least once during the month of December.

“A Merry Christmas collects the treasured holiday tales of Louisa May Alcott, from the dearly familiar Yuletide benevolence of Marmee and her 'little women' to the timeless 'What Love Can Do,' wherein the residents of a boarding house come together to make a lovely Christmas for two poor girls. Wildly popular at the time of their publication—readers deluged Alcott with letters demanding sequels—and drawing on Alcott’s family and experiences in the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, these stories have the authentic texture and detail of Christmas in nineteenth-century America, while their emphasis on generosity and charity make them timeless embodiments of the Christmas spirit.”

A throwback to simpler times. Introducing Avery to Milly-Molly-Mandy, a girl growing up in a small English village, and some of her autumn goings-on—helping her mother make “lots of pots of pumpkin-and-ginger jam,” watching everything go aflame for Guy Fawkes Day, celebrating the blacksmith’s wedding and anxiously waiting to see what her mysterious plant will turn out to be. This is one to read aloud at bedtime with a cup of warm tea in hand. Written by Joyce Lankester Brisley, the first set of Milly-Molly-Mandy stories was published in 1928.

I came across this recipe for chocolate and ginger cake inspired by the book on the most charming blog about food in books, The Little Library Café (@bakingfiction). Kate is also writing a cookbook with recipes inspired by literature (one of my favorite kinds of books), due out in fall 2017.